The Bear's Will Poulter and TV chef Big Zuu host BBQ for homeless young people: 'Food is everything'

You’re at a barbecue on a July evening hungrily waiting for food to be grilled to perfection. And your chefs? Will Poulter, whose guest appearances on The Bear saw him serve up pastry and philosophy, and TV cook and rapper Big Zuu.

They might seem an unlikely pair, but they have known each other for years (Poulter was an original fan of Zuu’s music) and are united by their love of great food and determination to do good. 

This barbecue is no different. They are cooking for young people facing homelessness at New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) in Camden, North London.

• Will Poulter: ‘To not be able to access food is just unthinkably unfair’
• Rapper and TV chef Big Zuu: ‘The more people give back, the better the world we’ll see’

NHYC runs monthly supper clubs, staying open late to cook big dinners which are shared family-style. It’s a well-loved event attended by between 50 and 80 young people, and it helps combat the loneliness homelessness can cause.

Highlights include Caribbean and Italian nights, and the iconic summer barbecue – this year hosted by stars Poulter and Big Zuu.

On the menu are beef and lamb burgers, veggie skewers and the cheesiest mac and cheese Zuu had seen in a while, as well as supermalt beef short ribs from Zuu’s cookbook.

The Big Issue sat down with the duo ahead of the event to chat about why they wanted to get involved and what needs to change for young people facing homelessness.

Big Issue: Tell us about the barbecue. Why is it something you wanted to get involved with?

Will Poulter: We all know what it is to be a young person. We all have varying experiences, but something I don’t have any experience of is financial insecurity and home insecurity that, unfortunately, a growing number of young people are facing. When we think about homelessness, we don’t necessarily think about the youth. 

There were 136,000 young people classed as homeless last year. The numbers needing support are on the rise and so, if you’re in the position to help at all, you jump at the chance. I think what NYHC is doing is truly special.

Big Zuu: I second what Will’s saying. Especially over Covid, young people faced a lot of hardship with youth centres closing and losing funding. It’s really important that people like me and Will connect with organisations and spread a little joy. My first ever job was with the National Citizenship Service. Volunteering for me is fundamental. 

WP: And we both have pretty strong relationships to food through our work. Zuu is a chef among many other things, and there’s my involvement with The Bear. One of the things that NHYC does is they feed young people.

They currently feed 80 people a day. And the number of people coming to them has soared. They want to help as many people as possible. We want young people to be provided for so they don’t have to rely on those services – so less people are homeless and hungry.

What does food mean to you both?

BZ: Food is my life. Food is everything. Food is what I was taught was so important when I was young, coming from a West African background. I grew up in a house where it was just me and my mum and my little brother, but she would always cook for like 10 people. She was always offering food to my neighbours or friends when they came over.

Now that I’ve grown up, I’m fortunate enough to do it as a career. It’s changed my life, but also let me connect with so many different types of people. Food has let me do so many incredible things.

WP: As a kid, growing up, the moments I felt most connected to other people was when I was eating with them. That is a privilege. I never really had those community moments taken away from me because I didn’t know food insecurity. 

When people go hungry, or they’re skipping a meal, they could be endangering their mental health as well as their physical health. In a country as wealthy as this, no young person should be experiencing that.

Is there something special about a barbecue in bringing people together?

BZ: Today is a beautiful day. The first thing that comes into your head is a barbecue. Growing up, I never really had a garden. So when I got old enough to have my own garden, it’s a joy to barbecue for friends. 

The energy’s always different. Normally, I’m the chef that people are staring at waiting for the food to be done. Barbecues are a way to come together and appreciate each other, but also create new conversation. You’re relaxed and look at things in a different way. I always feel like that’s what comes out of a barbecue. I reckon there will be some great conversations.

How do you both rate your barbecue skills?

WP: I’ve gotta say, outdoor cooking is not my strong suit. I’m more comfortable indoors. I might be leaning on you there Zuu.

BZ: I’m good on the barbecue. I’m alright. The more you cook, the more your chef hands develop. I’m literally outside Nando’s. I literally just ordered Nando’s. I used to work for Nando’s on the grill. 

WP: The heat of the commercial kitchen hits different. 

BZ: That Nando’s grill will make you melt like a candle. I used to be like this all day [he lifts his shoulder to wipe the sweat off his face]. You can’t use your hand to wipe your face because obviously you’re touching the food. You had to use bare shoulder contact like this.

Will, will you be channelling the skills you learnt in The Bear? 

WP: I worked in a restaurant in California and they had me there for a week. I can speak to what Zuu’s talking about a little bit. That grill is way hotter than any burner I’ve seen in a home. Even just holding a pan, your forearm gets lit up. They are no joke. I’m excited to get over an open flame with Zuu during this barbecue. And hopefully, we can build a little bit of a community moment and give people a good time and share some good food.

How does it make you feel that good food is such a privilege? 

WP: Gutting, especially when statistics will tell you that there is more than enough food to go around, and the country is in a position to be able to feed every young person and make sure that no one has to experience that kind of insecurity.

It’s really important, particularly at this moment with the change in government, that it is used as an opportunity to make a plan and increase the provisions for young people.

BZ: Growing up, good food was the language of having wealth. The older I’ve got, the more I’ve understood that it’s about educating people to empower themselves to be able to cook good food and shop right.

In these times of ultra-gentrification, you have areas where it’s low socioeconomic background, but they got this mad bakery on their road and this mad fancy restaurant. That is just not accessible.

There has to be more emphasis on food shops, not just being created for capitalist gain, not just to make as much money from the community as possible, but to provide dishes that are nutritional. Independent kitchens and restaurants are your unsung heroes of the high streets, especially cultural restaurants. 

You’re doing this in Camden, in Keir Starmer’s constituency. Polly [from NHYC], feel free to jump in here. What would you like to see the new government change?

Polly Stephens: Indeed. There were 136,000 young people who approached the council as homeless last year. That’s probably half the real scale. Over 50% of young people we work with have never been to their council or they haven’t got through the door. They’ve been told to go home, even if that’s not safe.

They just don’t get taken seriously. There’s this assumption that they’re somehow more resilient – like going homeless and going hungry and not having somewhere safe to go isn’t going to hurt you as much as it would hurt an older person, which is fundamentally untrue. 

What you need when you are a man and you are 40 is not what you need when you are a woman and you’re 19. 

We solve youth homelessness. We do it every single day. We do it every single week. We’ve literally written the solution. 

It’s the most powerful way to solve homelessness. 54% of people who sleep rough in later life were first homeless as a young person. Save yourself half the trauma further down the line for these people who just deserve better. 

It’s early days. Labour’s only had a fortnight in. I’ve been ringing them non-stop and I understand why they’re not ringing me back. They have committed to a strategy to end homelessness, but we’re like: “And young people? Are you going to have young people in the room? Or is it going to be decisions made in Whitehall by a group of white people in suits in their 40s and 50s?”

WP: That’s the nail on the head. The strategy is laid out for them. It’s just pressing the button on it. All too often, young people are misunderstood. They need a seat at the table. 

Will, you’ve spoken before about the benefits system as an ambassador for charity Turn2Us, is that something you’d like to see changed too?

WP: People who are facing financial insecurity are often dehumanised. They are labelled by things that don’t represent the totality of their experience. They are reliant on a system that is ultimately underdelivering, and then they are mislabelled as people who are benefiting from something. I think it requires us to reframe it.

The benefit system is viewed as something that people are benefiting from over other people. It’s not that. It’s designed to make sure that people are getting what they’re entitled to and what is rightfully theirs. It’s seeing the lived experience behind the human being, as opposed to just a statistic. 

BZ: I also think that more organisations should have incentives to hire young people, especially from situations where young people are going through certain hardships, whether it’s coming out of jail, being homeless… 

I work with a bakery called The Dusty Knuckle. They hire a lot of their workforce of people who are coming out of jail. If you give opportunities to people who are pushed to the side or forgotten about, you end up empowering them.

Sometimes we expect things to come from the kindness of people’s hearts. But these issues are not something that can be fixed with kindness. It has to come from a place of authority and a level where people are realising: “Yo, this is what’s happening, and this is how we can make a change.”

New Horizon Youth Centre supports 16- to 24-year-olds who are homeless or unsafe in London.

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